Luckily, the veteran director shows little sign of being discouraged by the shrill Internet yelping of a few spoiled (and clueless) dissidents.

"It wasn't particularly surprising because it is something new. A lot of the critical response I was reading was people saying it's different. Well, yes, it certainly is," Jackson told The Hollywood Reporter back in May. "But I think, ultimately, it is different in a positive way, especially for 3D, especially for epic films and films that are trying to immerse the viewer in the experience of a story."

The director also emphasized that production wasn't expected to wrap until July, so the above-mentioned clips were basically unfinished, lacking both color correction and visual effects. In contrast, the original LOTR employed various postproduction techniques to create a certain look for the movies, including "extensive" digital color grading, "added texture, and we took out highlights."

"[Of course], we'll do the same with The Hobbit, to make it consistent and give it the feeling of otherworldliness – to get the mood, the tone, the feel of the different scenes," he said. "We are certainly going to experiment with different finishing techniques to give the 48 frames a look that is more organic. But that work isn't due to start until we wrap photography in July."